The present invention relates to an automatic coil winding and finishing machine which continuously and automatically performs processes such as a coil winding process, a coil-end temporary fixing process, a terminal soldering process, a conduction checking process, and a defective discriminating process, after coil bobbins have been fed into the system and before the coil bobbins are discharged therefrom.
Processes such as those described above have hitherto been performed in the following manner: while the coil winding process and the various coil finishing processes are performed by individual devices, the mounting of coil bobbins onto the coil winding device, the dismounting of the coil bobbins after the completion of the coil winding process, and the mounting and the dismounting of the coil bobbins onto and from the individual coil finishing devices are performed by the operators or by exclusive machines. In addition, belt conveyors are often used to convey the coil bobbins between the coil winding device and the group of coil finishing devices.
In recent years, the coil winding process and the coil finishing processes have been automatized. Some processing systems employ exclusive machines to feed and discharge coil bobbins into and from various devices to which those processes are allotted.
Further, some processing systems have their devices for coil finishing processes arranged according to designs directed to the reduction of the area exclusively required for the finishing of coils.
With the known arrangements of the coil-processing systems, however, problems are encountered. Because a bobbin conveying device, such as a belt conveyor, is required to convey coil bobbins on which coils have been formed thereon by the coil winding machine to a location where the first coil finishing process is to be performed, and because exclusive machines are necessary to feed and discharge coil bobbins into and from the coil winding machine and the coil finishing devices, the area required is inevitably large, and considerable time is consumed by the feeding and discharging of the coil bobbins.
An object of the present invention is to overcome the above-stated problems of the conventional machines, and to provide an automatic coil winding and finishing machine, which comprises two bobbin conveying devices (hereinafter referred to as "shuttles") capable of reciprocating on linear lines while holding coil bobbins and capable of stopping the coil bobbins at predetermined positions, whereby the coil bobbins are fed into and discharged from the coil winding device, and the bobbins remaining held by one of the shuttles are subjected to coil finishing processes in cooperation with the devices for the coil finishing processes. Thus, the entire machine requires a much smaller area than the conventional system, and the machine facilitates the layout of the various devices, thereby enabling an improvement in the quality of the product, and a reduction in the time for operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic coil winding and finishing machine, in which, when coil bobbins are to be transferred from the shuttle for the coil winding process to the shuttle for the coil finishing processes, the intervals between adjacent coil bobbins are reduced, thereby facilitating the reduction of the size of each of the devices for the coil finishing processes. This arrangement is made in view of the following facts: The intervals at which coil bobbins are held by a shuttle immediately before the coil winding process must be the same as those at which the coil bobbins are held by the spindles that rotate during coil winding operation by the coil winding device. On the other hand, the intervals at which the coil bobbins are held by a shuttle during the coil finishing processes correspond to those which are necessary to perform processes such as the soldering of the terminals of coil bobbins with the coils wound thereon, cleaning, drying, and coil conduction checking. Those intervals, therefore, may be far narrower than those between the spindles of the coil winding device.